


When It Rains, Play Guilty Gear

by Spuckklerr



Category: Guilty Gear, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24256999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spuckklerr/pseuds/Spuckklerr
Summary: Makoto messaged the ex-Phantom Thieves about getting together for the holiday period. They all agreed, and then it rained.So, instead of doing anything that she planned, they play Guilty Gear.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Niijima Makoto/Persona 5 Protagonist
Kudos: 24





	When It Rains, Play Guilty Gear

**Author's Note:**

> Made this one for Makoto Monday.  
> Also because I like Guilty Gear.  
> And Makoto.

“Man, this effin’ blows.”

Makoto watched Ryuji slump into his chair. She and the other ex-phantom thieves settled down with him in Leblanc’s attic. It had partly been transformed into a game room by Futaba since Ren had moved back home, so the shelves were filled with collector’s edition boxes and game cases. Rain rapped the windows.

“I was really looking forward to the beach, too…” Ann squeezed herself on the sofa with rest of the girls barring Futaba, who took a seat around the table opposite to Yusuke.

“I’m sorry,” said Makoto, “I was so eager about us all getting together again that I forget to check the weather forecast.” She had spent so long trying to create the perfect itinerary for their group during this holiday period, and chastised herself for missing such an important detail.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Mako-chan.” Haru gave a sincere smile. “Any of us could have checked the forecast this morning, but we all missed it for the same reason you did. And besides, I’m sure we can find something to do indoors.”

“Haru’s right,” said Ann, “Any of us could’ve checked.” She looked at Ren. “So, what did you usually do up here? Oh, did you bring any board games with you?”

Ren was sat on his old bed, idly scratching behind Morgana’s ear. “Read. Make infiltration tools. Nothing that could really be turned into a group activity. No board games, either, I’m afraid. Not even cards.”

“Not that I could play them, anyway,” the not-cat added.

“I’d move your pieces for you.”

“But if it were cards, you’d totally cheat with my hand!”

“I swear on my honour as a gentleman thief, I would never.”

Ann thought for a moment, then pulled her phone out of her pocket and gestured with it. “How about we play a game on our phones together? Like, Pictionary or something.”

“Absolutely not! I refuse!” Yusuke’s chair creaked loudly against the floor as he shot onto his feet. He pointed dramatically at Futaba. “You! I will not idly stand by while you disgrace the good name of art!”

“Oh, come on Inari,” Futaba pouted, “I’m not that bad! I just have one of those ‘ahead-of-their-time’ art styles that you can’t appreciate until I’ve been dead for a decade or so.”

“ _That_ is not a style, and it is most certainly not ahead of its time. It is _sacrilegious._ ”

Ann’s arm fell in defeat. “Ooookay. Guess that’s not happening.”

There was a pause. Then, Ren chuckled as he shared a look with Yusuke. “One might say…” He started. Suddenly, the young artist seemed to be in a much better mood, and Makoto was overcome with a suffocating sense of dread.

“…It is out of the picture,” the other finished. He gave a low chuckle of his own.

The room was silent.

“Do you get it? It was Pictionary, and-“

“No,” Makoto pleaded, “Not another word from either of you.” The fact that there was enough synergy between those two for them to finish each other’s puns concerned her. Gravely.

It was quiet for another few moments. Then, Futaba clapped her hands together with an, “Aha!” Everyone’s attention turned to her.

“Gentlemen and gentleladies, I have a solution!” She spread her arms out wide and splayed her fingers. “We will fight…” She closed her fists. “…To the death! Drama! Spectacle! Betrayal!”

“Are you high?” Ryuji interjected. “There ain’t even enough room in here.”

“Is that seriously the only thing you’re gonna point out about that?” Ann said.

“Not with our fists, you moron.” Futaba got off her chair and rummaged around underneath the table the TV sat on. Ren’s old game console was still there, but it was resting on top of a much more modern console, sleek and black. It was plastered with colourful stickers that Makoto vaguely recalled to be characters from the Neo Featherman series. Eventually, Futaba rose to her feet holding a large brick of an object with cable wrapped around it. There were a few large buttons visible through gaps in the wire, and a ball-topped stick stuck out beside them. “We’ll fight with these!”

“Is that an arcade stick?” Makoto asked. Ever since Ren had taken her to the arcade to ‘broaden her horizons’ for the first time, she occasionally went there herself when she was ahead of her study schedule. Every time, even when she made a point to try the other games there, she would get stuck to a Street Fighter III Third Strike machine. She had mulled over the idea of purchasing a stick featuring Chun-Li on its front for a considerable amount of time, but reluctantly decided against it as she didn’t own a compatible game, much less console.

“Oh! It’s been such a long time since I last played a fighting game!” Haru said. Her apparent interest in the genre made all too much sense after seeing her fight in the Metaverse. Makoto shuddered.

“Yeah, me too,” Ann replied. “Man, I must’ve been like twelve or something last time I played one at the arcade. I remember picking this cat girl character a lot.” She tapped her fingers against her skull in thought. “Man, I can’t remember for the life of me what the game was called, though.”

“Was it Darkstalkers?” Ren suggested.

“Yeah, that’s it! Darkstalkers. I wonder if they have it in that Shibuya arcade.”

Makoto looked toward her boyfriend. “Do you play a lot of those games, Ren?”

“Not exactly.” He met her gaze. “There weren’t any arcades back home, so I didn’t really get to play against people. I owned a few games, though. I guess I _did_ sink a bunch of hours into those.”

“I have no interest in playing such a game myself,” said Yusuke, “Though I wonder if I might find inspiration in watching a maelstrom of battle unfold.”

A grin split Ryuji’s face as he looked back toward Futaba. “Man, this is gonna rule! I always thought you’d be more like, I dunno, a strategy gamer or somethin’.”

She made a show of adjusting her glasses. “Fighting games _are_ strategy games, dear Ryuji.” A smug look crossed her face as she said, “But I doubt someone as tactless as you would see it that way.”

“You wanna go?” Ryuji stood up. “I can take you!”

“Then it’s settled. Loser switches out; winner stays on.” She pressed a button on the modern console. As it beeped to life, she fetched a second stick from under the table.

“Aren’t you going to be on the whole time if we do that?” Ann asked.

“Not if I got anythin’ to say about it,” Ryuji muttered.

If Futaba heard him, she didn’t give any indication as she plugged the sticks into the system. “True, true. Then the winner will swap after three wins.” She scrolled through her library, mumbling to herself. “Let’s see - BlazBlue, UNIST, Tekken… Oh, this one!”

Futaba had apparently selected something, because the TV screen was now occupied by a logo that had Makoto thoroughly perplexed. She could read “Guilty Gear,” clearly enough, but she couldn’t make sense of, “rd X R2 Guilty Gear Xrd REV2.”

 _“Guilty Gear Xrd,”_ declared the game announcer, “ _Rev 2.”_

Well, that answered that.

“I dunno Futaba,” Ryuji smirked, a hot air balloon’s worth of ego audible in his voice. “I’ve been labbin’ this game out all last week. You _sure_ you wanna pick this one?”

Futaba gave him a look. “Bet,” she said simply. “You’ve not even touched training mode once. You just went online and used some gimmick.”

Ryuji did not deny this as he plopped himself down on a seat next to her and picked up the free stick. “ _Oh, I bet you used some gimmick,_ ” he said in mocking approximation of her. “I’ll show you!”

They ran their way through the menus, then…

_“Who dares to enter the mayhem?”_

And metal blared from the TV.

The lead guitar squealed and shouted and sang, a heavy rhythm punctuating its immaculate melody. Everything, from the song to the jagged metal look of the selection screen itself, screamed rock and roll. She noticed there was a character whose last name was literally _Badguy._

 _This,_ Makoto thought, _is completely, unabashedly, badass._

“Such an unhinged and rugged aesthetic,” Yusuke mused. “How interesting.”

“ _May,”_ said the announcer. Futaba had selected a young-looking girl with an orange and black outfit, and a large hat adorned with a skull pin. She held an anchor in one hand over her shoulder.

 _“Leo Whitefang.”_ Ryuji’s character was a tall, well-built man with a flowing mane of bushy hair, wielding two cross-shaped swords.

“Oh. You main Leo,” Futaba said. “Wow. That makes so much sense.”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean? ‘Sides, your character has gimmicks too!”

“Only if you’re dumb enough to let them hit you.”

As they bickered, both their characters arrived on the battlefield.

 _“May! Pick up some onions, please,”_ a girl shouted from a ship.

 _“Roger that!”_ May leapt off a dolphin onto land, flailing her arms before she regained her balance. _“Wagering today’s chores!”_

Then, a sword cracked the ground with a hard thud and a voice of authority roared, _“Grave crimes deserve…?”_

 _“Grave punishment!”_ Came a number of voices in unison.

 _“Petty crime deserves…”_ Another sword hit the ground.

_“Grave punishment!”_

The camera zoomed towards Leo. _“Yes! And only_ I _may pardon,”_ he said, flourishing his weapons. He lifted his head up and smiled a lion’s grin at the camera.

 _“Heaven or Hell,”_ boomed the announcer, _“Duel one.”_

Ryuji and Futaba were now laser focused on the screen, silent.

_“Let’s rock!”_

Everyone watched as Leo was assaulted with dolphin after dolphin, every other hit flashing, _“Counter,”_ on the screen. Apparently, Ryuji didn’t know how to block. Or worse, he made the conscious choice to constantly attack with no regard for when it was safe to do so. He tried jumping over it and landing with an air attack, but even that was countered by a vertical dolphin attack, pushing him back into the corner of the stage. Leo was flung into the air with an upward-arcing swing of May’s anchor, and she jumped up to chase him with another series of swings and kicks.

The first round was over before it even began.

“Ryuji,” Futaba said, “You do know which direction is _back_ , right? Please tell me your stick is broken. I won’t even be mad.”

“Shuddup,” was all she got in response.

_“Duel two. Keep on rockin’!”_

The second round went a little better for him. He blocked some of the dolphins - he even managed a flashy-looking combo after a counter hit of his own. When he actually had the chance to move, Makoto found it hard to follow the action as both players dashed around in the air and on the ground, dancing around each other’s’ flurries of attacks. Anchor swings, sword slashes, all kinds of sea animals and metal crosses whizzed by every moment. She leaned in to get a better view of the action.

Then, just after Leo blocked a punch from May, he got thrown. He got up off the ground - he was thrown again. And again - this time, he flew through the air, bouncing off the wall of the stage as May caught his descent with her anchor, and the round was closed out as she called on a giant whale to crush her opponent.

_“May wins - straight!”_

“Wow,” Ann said, “That was a wash.”

Ryuji let out a defeated groan. “Man, this is lame…”

“Alright, you’re done disgracing the FGC. Shoo,” Futaba said, “Who wants to go next?” Ryuji dragged himself to another seat.

“I think I’d like to have a go,” Makoto offered quickly. “Though, I won’t know any of the characters’ special moves. And I’ve only played Street Fighter before.”

“That’s fine. Now, would the queen like to take a seat upon her rightful throne?” Futaba patted the now vacant chair next to her. Makoto made her way over as the other thieves offered encouragement.

“Go get ‘em, tiger!”

“You can do it, Mako-chan!”

“Make it a spectacle to behold.”

Once she sat down, she adjusted her grip on the arcade stick until she found something comfortable. The character select screen displayed itself, backed with that awesome rock tune.

“Just pick whoever you feel like,” said Futaba. “If you don’t like how they play, you can always switch.”

Makoto hovered over a number of characters, getting a feel for each one’s personality based off their stances, colour schemes and outfits.

Once she saw them, she picked them without hesitation.

 _“Baiken.”_ Her character wore a black, red and white kimono, its torn right sleeve flailing about uselessly in the wind along with her long, rugged, pink hair, while her left hand rested itself on the hilt of her katana.

Futaba gave a long, “Ohhh,” like she had just figured something out. “I always imagined you as Ky or something, but this makes a lot of sense too.”

“I thought Ky looked interesting,” Makoto replied. “But Baiken… just felt more right, I suppose.”

She nodded in agreement. “She’s definitely more of a ‘queen’ kinda character.”

“How interesting,” said Yusuke. “It would seem the character one chooses reflects their inner nature. This bares further observation.”

“That would make Ryuji some kind of lion, then, wouldn’t it?” Morgana asked.

“I believe it’s more that he _thinks_ of himself as a lion.”

A groan came from Ryuji’s seat.

“Wow,” said Morgana, “He got beaten so bad he doesn’t even have the energy for a retort.”

“Poor Ryuji,” said Haru

Futaba gave a quick run down on which of Makoto’s buttons were her punches, kicks and slashes, as well as a few of Baiken’s special moves, and how to air dash and roman cancel, all in the brief time before the match started. It was a lot to take in at once, but Makoto was reasonably confident she could manage.

After May’s introductory scene played, Baiken’s followed.

 _“I humbly ask, I humbly ask,”_ spoke a narrator in antiquated Japanese as Baiken walked into a sunset, _“Though ‘tis sudden, where doth lie Hell? Whilst the demons laugh, the people weep. Since it doth lie outside the bounds of virtuous deeds, I shall undertake the task of felling the Netherworld.”_ The camera began panning to Baiken’s side. _“For I am a vulgar samurai of the lowest rank. I have no intent of dying the honourable death of a warrior.”_ She brought her katana up to her shoulder, clicked the sword out of its sheath with a thumb and gave a glare.

Makoto knew she had chosen the right character.

_“Heaven or Hell. Duel one. Let’s rock!”_

Makoto’s character swung her sword in a flurry, but May had her anchor up to guard the attacks. She quickly jumped and shot through the air, riding back down to the ground on her anchor, but Baiken had brought her sword up just in time for May to slide harmlessly off it. She followed up with another flurry, successfully connecting this time. Before May could recover, she was knocked into the air with a tatami mat and the samurai jumped up in pursuit, battering her with an assortment of cruel and deadly weapons that had taken the place of her right arm, eventually launching her with a cannon blast into the wall of the arena.

Makoto took the first round, but she could tell Futaba was playing slower than she was with Ryuji.

“Wow,” Futaba said, “You worked out your gatlings fast.”

“I think I just got lucky. I was playing by feel, mostly.”

“I’d hate to see what you could do once you started thinking with mind games. Yikes.”

Makoto already knew a few of the mind games Futaba was talking about from her time in Street Fighter, such as high-low mixups and okizeme. However, she could tell there was a lot more to be explored. She couldn’t say why, but this prospect excited her.

“I’m not gonna hold back this time!” Makoto was still focused on the screen, but she could hear the grin in Futaba’s words. “Hope you remember how to burst.”

_“Duel two. All or nothin’!”_

Immediately, Makoto felt the extra pressure Futaba was applying. She held up her sword to defend herself, looking for an opening among the ceaseless anchor swings punctuated with attacks from various sea creatures. A slow and heavy-looking anchor strike bounced off her blade, and as Makoto made to punish it, May was enveloped in a red aura as she performed a roman cancel. Makoto was hit before she could even pull out her sword and she was splatted against the stage wall as the announcer shouted, _“Counter!”_

Futaba began a well-practiced and elaborate combo sequence, but before she could get much damage out of it, Makoto blasted her away with the blue light of a burst. For the briefest of moments, she could think. She considered how her opponent would close the distance - Futaba had already used her dolphins a lot to push her into the corner, and if she dashed straight towards Makoto, her anchor would be outpaced the sword. Provided Futaba had the same line of thinking, she would either wait for Makoto’s approach, or dash towards her through the air. Either way, throwing out an attack to stuff out the latter option would be relatively safe.

Makoto lifted her fist skyward, and Futaba went flying. She followed her into the sky with another series of attacks, shooting Futaba away with a cannon. This time, however, Makoto had meter to burn on a roman cancel of her own, and with a red glow she glided through the air to push Futaba right into the other corner. Her opponent was now prone on the ground, and as she started getting on her feet, she remembered a specific special move that she had. Makoto held her katana in front of her. The anchor hit it with a bright _ping_ sound and she lifted Futaba into the air with a vertical slash, catching her fall with another swing of her sword.

_“Baiken wins - straight!”_

Makoto could suddenly feel the sweat on her back.

Ren popped off.

“My girlfriend is _awesome!_ ” He shouted. Makoto decided the heat she felt in her face was a result of the game and _not_ her boyfriend’s sudden outburst in the presence of the rest of her friends. Everyone else laughed and cheered.

“Looks like you’ve got a fan,” Futaba teased.

“I don’t think you actually went all out,” Makoto said, trying very hard to keep her voice even.

“I use May to cheese people out online. My actual main is Faust. If you keep playing, I might have the good doctor give you a check-up.” She readjusted her glasses. “Still, that last match was pretty hype.”

Once everyone had their fun and the rain cleared up, Makoto made her way back to her apartment - well, it was technically now just _Sae’s_ ever since she had moved into her university dorms, but her sister had made it abundantly clear she was welcome whenever she wanted stay.

Along the way, she picked up another notebook. Her last one was going to run out of space at some point, after all.

For now, though, it was titled “Guilty Gear Notes.”

Extensive studying would need to take place.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a few more things planned for this but kinda ran out of time for it, so I'll shortly summarise them:  
> Haru beats the shit out of Futaba in GG.  
> "I thought you said YOU were the final boss?" Says Ryuji.  
> Futaba shakes. "I am. But Haru. She's beyond the final boss. She's the over-leveled post-game super boss!"  
> "FOR REAL?"  
> Naturally, Haru mains Elphelt :)  
> Then an epic fight between Makoto and Haru ensues. Everyone pops off at the end.
> 
> I also wanted to have like, a few short bits about Makoto making progress with the game in her free time as weeks, like week one she's learning some fancy combos and week two she learns some cool GG tech, with intermittent fights.
> 
> Then I realised that not only did I not have time but it would've made this fic run way too long lol. I also had the thought of, "as she plays more and more I'll switch from using 'Baiken' and 'her character' to just 'Makoto' to show how she's just, like, super into it" but I just put that in the second round instead.
> 
> Anyway, I feel like despite having Makoto as the perspective character, she didn't really have much personal insight to offer the reader. More or less the whole way through it was me stating "X happened then Y" without having any of it be coloured by Makoto's personal thoughts. I didn't realise how hard it was to write conversations between big casts of characters oh my word. Characters are saying and doing stuff, then you have to worry about your perspective character's thoughts while also balancing that with character voice and actual other things happening, not to mention prose and "I don't like this sentence how do I make it not bad."
> 
> In summary, writing hard.
> 
> Go listen to Guilty Gear's OST please. Here, I'll even make a recommendation: https://youtu.be/qhpisRcYuZw  
> ArcSys, please put Baiken in STRIVE. I'm begging you.


End file.
